Thinking of a new gadget...

[SportsterDoc]

Man you electrical/engineering types are worriers

Very soon we will open Motorcycle E-gizmo University for forum members only with the following prerequisites: familiar with DVOM, knowing how to read electrical diagrams, proper electrical troubleshooting before starting electrical job.

[url=https://www.google.ca/search?q=ohm+formula&rlz=1C1GCEU_enCA819CA820&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQ8ILv3ujeAhUL_4MKHTVDDoMQsAR6BAgDEAE&biw=1600&bih=758]https://www.google.ca/search?q=ohm+formu...00&bih=758

Assumed professors (in alphabetical order):
Csory, Django, MAX, peterbaron, popgan, SportsterDoc..+ few more volunteers ..
Are you in it ??

Don't think a zener diode and indicator light put me in the professor category!

Not me..that's for sure. If something on mine were failing then I would find out when the bike quit.

True story....on yesterdays FJR ride. The gauges have a menu of 9 things you toggle thru you can see. I think trip A, Trip B and odometer are on my first page (information I use most). Second page is range left to empty, current mpg and average mpg. On the third page I think I have coolant temp, and ambient air temp and something else (things I'm least to think or worry about).

So yesterday I'm riding along and decided to check the ambient air temp. So I toggle to that page and see it's 35 degrees or whatever. So I look up and see the coolant temp..something I never look at. It doesn't say 1 number..it's scrolling thru numbers 141...158...163..157..172..161...148 etc. Not in a progressive order, but rather random like. About every one hundred yards it seems to change. I think to myself... that doesn't seem right. Seems to me it would get to a certain temp and stay there unless you slow down or stop or go real fast (more or less air = hotter or cooler right?) so rather than worry about it for one second longer, I just flipped off that page back to my main page, and continued on my ride. Rode it 75 miles this morning and never looked at it once, and never worried about it. Warning gauges are for worriers lol.

For most gauges I much prefer analog!...and not flipping pages!!

I'm the same. My former air-cooled Ducati Monster had an oil temperature display. It'd take about 5 miles for the engine oil to reach "normal operating temperature" (about 220 degrees F), but in traffic or on hot days the temp would slowly creep up to 250-260 degrees, and then slowly come down again once you were moving. At first I was overly concerned, and then I ignored it. The bike ran fine.

Same thing with my liquid-cooled K1200RS. You could watch the coolant gauge creep up to the red zone before the fans would come on and bring the temp back down again. I used to panic before realizing everything was operating as intended. It never overheated.

I used a oil tank thermomter to dial the carbs on both Sportsters, which were too lean from factory. Once the jetting was satisfactory, I removed the thermometer.